OHL Construction makes the Lidera! Awards for technological innovation

The OHL Group’s Construction Division has held the ceremony of the first LIDERA! technological innovation awards, the results of which were announced by the jury in July. These awards recognize innovative initiatives that help to consolidate our company’s technological leadership in the construction sector.

Francisco Marín Andrés, President-General Manager of OHL Construction, presented the awards on October 15 at OHL’s Torre Espacio headquarters building, in the presence of the Group’s Corporate CEO, Luis García-Linares.

Subsequently, the winners presented their initiatives to an audience of over 60 people composed of directors, middle managers and people involved in R&D and innovation in OHL. Guests also included representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Madrid Regional Government. The Herrenknecht company, winner of the award for most innovative provider, was represented by a delegation headed by its president, Martin Herrenknecht.

During the event, Francisco Marín emphasized the strategic importance of innovation to OHL “as a lever for our growth”, while Carlos Bosch, Technical Director of OHL Construction, emphasized the good results for the company of applying proprietary technologies generated through OHL’s own work and through R&D projects. Miguel Amerigo, head of the R&D and Innovation service, highlighted the maturity of OHL Construction’s R&D+i management system, which “after 13 years in existence, is now focusing its efforts on enhancing the generation of ideas and the transmission of results to works applications”.

The award winners in the different categories were as follows:

Best works innovation:

• First prize to Floating Formwork developed by Alfredo Arias Vicente, Francisco Jesús González García and José María Naranjo Murillo, in the West docks mooring for large ships civil engineering project in the Balearic Islands, Spain. The prize money for this award was 3,000 euros.
• Second prize to Load cells in piles, presented by Gilbert Francisco Dossou-Yovo and Antonio Mira Gutiérrez in the Kuwait Urban Viaduct works in the Middle East region. The prize money for this award was 2,000 euros.

Best idea for an R&D+i project: First prize to the “EOPLEN: Stabilizing eolian sands” candidacy, proposed by the Technical Division’s Geotechnical Service, composed of Ángel Muelas Rodríguez, Juan José Díaz López, José Ramón Bombín Saiz and Rubén Hernández Chaichio. Fist prize of €5,000.

Most innovative area: First prize to the SATO specialist subsidiary, for the constant and successful innovative path it has followed in recent years, recognized nationally and internationally, which has allowed the OHL Group to project an image of excellence in innovation.

Most innovative supplier: First prize to the supplier, Herrenknecht, for supplying OHL with the Ø 12.56 Hydroshield Tunnel Boring Machine to drill tunnels under the Vistula River (Gdansk, Poland) and for its long years of innovation and collaboration with OHL.